Happier With You
by petals-to-fish
Summary: "Fix this." Her begging is insistent and painful. "I'm in love you." The words he emits are a testament to the setback she wants fixed. "Well then love someone else." XxX Requested on Tumblr: Prime Minister!James AU with Secretary!Lily


**Requested on Tumblr:** James is prime minister. Lily is a new person in his office (super clumsy). James also gets really nervous and whenever together they get awkward until finally confessing!

 **I took this request and flipped it a little bit, because i liked writing it like this more than the other way that I tried. So it starts with the confession but flashes back to** **their past meetings.**

 **Thanks for supporting my creative flow!**

 **xxx**

 **Petals**

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"Fix this."

Her begging is insistent and painful.

"I'm in love you."

The words he emits are a testament to the setback she wants fixed.

"Well then, love someone else."

James never thought he'd hear those words from her mouth. Words that were so sharp that he was positive he was bleeding from them. Still, she stood there bold as brass with her green eyes blazing as she stares him down.

He manages to choke out a simple, "I can't."

Lily Evans and James Potter were at a crossroads.

Of course, Prime Minister James Potter wasn't _always_ in love with his secretary Lily Evans. In fact, when he first met the woman James was sure Lily wouldn't last a week. It had been three years since she started working for him. She'd been through a campaign, a trial period, and a win. Lily had been there the minute James learned his dad died. She had appeared with pizza the second she got a call saying Sirius had landed himself in jail for punching a protester. She's been a part of his life so much James couldn't see another woman to love.

Lily had stayed at his side for better or for worse and James was in love with her, whether she wanted to hear his affections now or not.

The way her mouth opens and closes as she gapes at him reminds James of the moment he'd fallen for her. It had been a month or two after she started working for him. She was wearing a pretty floral dress that he'd complimented. He loved when she wore dresses and it took him two months to work up the curate to tell her so. The expression of shock then was one-in-the-same with the expression she wore now.

James always seemed to shock her.

The year he found out her birthday and he'd spent twenty four hours gathering up supplies and having his security detail decorate the back office for a surprise party. All their mutual friends came to wish her a happy day. Lily cried when James pulled her into the room unawares, almost like she was crying now as he professed his love for her.

Her green eyes had finally softened and they seemed to sparkle against the salty tears threatening to spill over her cheeks. Lily is positioned so that her back is against the door to the broom closet since James had cornered her so dramatically. She is still wearing her white jacket since James had jumped on her in the parking lot before the press spotted her.

"I don't care that you don't want to hear it because you have to." James' tone was nothing but kind as he loomed over her, "from the moment you walked into my office I knew you were the one."

"The moment I walked into your office I dropped hot coffee on your nicest slacks!" Lily argues for the sake of it, but James can tell she's fighting without passion.

James recalled when Lily had entered his office, flustered and blushing, carrying the coffee. He'd been a bit flustered himself to find the secretary his security detail had hired was so beautiful. Lily was right out of his boyish fantasy's with red hair that fell to her shoulders and pointed green eyes that looked right out of Lord of the Rings. When Lily entered his office for the first time with the coffee James had stood up so fast to shake her hand that the coffee flew from her hands in shock and landed in his lap.

James thought Lily was so mortified that she'd quit on the spot but she stayed and he'd kept her for his own selfish reasons. It had been three years since that incident but even still Lily only brought him coffee with a taped-on lid.

James smiles, recalling the moment with Lily, ""I just want you to know that when I picture myself happy… it's always with you."

Lily blushes at that and lowers her eyes, reminding James of another moment in their timeline.

It had been just last year, right after he'd won his spot in the Ministry. Prime Minister at 23 was practically legendary. There were massive parties being thrown in James' honor. At the Christmas Ball all of James' workers were in attendance, including Lily. He remembered the light green gown she wore that hugged her curves, as they stood outside in the snow together, awaiting the press. He begged her to dance to the music while they waited for the cameras.

She blushed and looked at the floor like she did now, but with less embarrassment and more disbelief.

"James I'm not right for you." Lily says next, looking at him for confirmation.

And she was right, he supposed.

Lily's life was far from perfect. She lived in a shanty on the outskirts of London and owned three business suits that she alternated throughout the week. Lily had no habit of complaining but James knew she struggled with her money. She also had no interest in politics and only worked for James as a secretary while she paid her way through University.

She was nothing the world wanted for him, but yet she was the most accomplished person he knew.

Lily had traveled the world for a year. She saw pyramids in Egypt and she studied under the Grecian stars. Lily slept in temples and caught fireflies in South America. She even drew her name on sandstone while diving 60 feet below the oceans surface.

James' accomplishments were sub par in comparison to Lily's.

Still, the cameras told a different story.

"You have dreams and your dreams are goals that will turn into accomplishments," James tells her and she grabs the paper that started the conversation, pointing to the front page.

In between words written by a bitter press woman, the picture caught his eye. James' arm was wrapped low on Lily's waist. The low cut back of her party dress left little to the reader's imagination.

They'd both been tipsy and they'd both been laughing and they'd both been dancing. The cameras follow James like he's the Queen of England. The press is ready to slander his name across town. Although James is popular and won his position fair and square-there were those who wished to see him ruined because of his age.

Lily was always quick to remind James how much was at stake if he was doing something the cameras wouldn't like. She had to consistently warn him to stop cursing like a sailor. She always had an umbrella tucked away to block his face in the mornings when they got coffee. Lily even almost got arrested for telling paparazzi to fuck off.

James was so close to asking her to marry him that day.

"I love you."

He says it again and she winces the moment shouts come from the other side of the door. The paparazzi has no qualms about following James even in the most inclusive moments of his life. It was one of the reasons James and Lily were in the supply closet of the National Museum to begin with.

"James."

His name was so sweet on her tongue and James' hands scrunched tightly against the folds of his neatly pressed trousers. Lily herself had her hands covering her face. James had seen her cover her face many times over the past three years, mostly when she was embarrassed. Lily had a tendency to be most embarrassed whenever James brought her into the spotlight with him and today, he'd drug her so far into his spotlight she would likely never escape it.

It had started when he was opening the Natural History Museum for the summer season. It was a simple dinner that he'd begged Lily to go to so he wouldn't be bored out of his mind. Lily agreed hesitantly but they'd had a great time and James was amazed at how easy it was around Lily.

She made him laugh.

She kept him sane.

And she never complained.

And he was so fucking in love with her that he forgot she hated the cameras and the press that came with them. So even though he knew the press was just waiting to get something on him...even though he knew he was holding onto his secretary a little too tightly...even though he knew Lily was painfully oblivious to his feeling...

James let the press get a bigger story then they bargained for because the next day James and Lily were front-page news. Now Lily and James were hiding from the pointed stares and aggravated glares inside of a broom cupboard where windows didn't give away the disappointing truth: she wasn't in love with him.

"James." Her lip wobbles and he struggles to keep his hands to his side, when all he really wants is to wrap his arms around her.

"I can't just love someone else." He whispers next.

She hugs herself, her pale arms seeming to glow in the faint yellow light of the closet. For a moment he thinks that she might tell him that she didn't feel the same way. For a moment he was afraid that he'd been too forward with her. For a moment he was more afraid than he'd ever been in his entire life.

And then her green eyes lifted to meet his gaze.

In her eyes he saw so much emotion it made time seem to stop. James felt his heart pick up and his head began to spin. She's possibly the most beautiful creature he's ever seen, ocean-to-ocean, no other girl could possibly hold a flicker to Lily Evans.

"I think I'm in love with you and I'm terrified." Her face is calm and her voice is lilted, "I'm terrified of loving you because you're so cool and so surprising and I've noticed lately that I need you around to be happy."

"What's so terrifying of being happy?" James asks her.

Just then a pounding knock came against their private door, "You've both got to come out eventually!" came the challenging voice of James' publicist.

Lily's fingers lift to her mouth as her green eyes skirt to the door with fright and James is reminded that she hates the spotlight. She dislikes being happy with James because people and a world that she wants no part of surround him. He wanted to tell her not to be nervous and he wanted to tell her he couldn't live without her…but she had a choice to make.

Be happy with him in the spotlight or be miserable without him behind a curtain his publicist would build to protect her.

Lily couldn't have both.

Lily fiddles with her skirts, lost in her choice. Her eyes glance to him and he offers a hand and a warm smile. She trips on a broom as she reaches for his hand and he catches her with a chuckle. She lets out a breath she'd been holding once she is in his arms. His eyes stay trained on her face, waiting for the reply he'd been waiting for his whole life.

"Remember when I got a massive paper cut on the second day in your office?" she laughs to herself but it convinces him he's not lost, "I was so nervous around you and afraid that I'd mess up only to get blood all over the Healthcare Initiative."

James recalled the memory. She'd been wearing a pretty green dress. He remembered the spark that passed between them when she handed the Healthcare Initiative his way with a clever smile. He remembered the blush that kept up her neck as the paper slid across her fingers just right, cutting them open. He remembered when they both began shouting, struggling to save the papers only to find Lily's blood had permanently sealed to most of the document.

Lily's voice drew him from the memories, she is playing with his hands now, "I thought you were going to fire me then and there but you didn't…you always had my back…even when Severus Snape accused me of falsifying reports."

James frowns at the mention of Severus Snape, who had tried unsuccessfully to fire Lily twice. Lily told him she thought it was because she turned Snape down for multiple dates. James held a grudge against the bastard, who in turn hated James with a passion. Lily didn't seem to be thinking about Severus Snape for much longer.

"You knew I was coming from Cokesworth and had no political gain as your secretary." Lily continues her monologue, eyes watering, "But you kept me around and made me feel welcome and happy and _safe_." She turns her head to stare at him liked a confused puppy, "And you _love_ me?"

James takes one of his hands intertwined in hers and used it to brush fingers against her soft cheek. Lily closes her eyes against his touch, leaning into him respectively.

"One month into the job you stood up in my meeting with George Wilkins." James recalls the days when he'd sit back and admire her, "And you gave him six reasons why the Childcare Reform Act would devastate the single mothers of this nation. I almost kissed you then and there." His confession makes her flush and grin with pride, "And you never fail to impress me, in and out of this office. The way you dance to Elton John in the break room. How you smile with you eat a grilled cheese from Deeney's. Even how you stare at me in meetings when you think I'm not paying attention."

Lily swallows as he brushes his nose against hers lightly. James closes his eyes and breathes in, taking in their quiet moment. Behind the door was the real world and they'd have to rejoin it before security busted the door down despite James warning them to keep their distance.

She tightens her grip and utters, "We're in love, aren't we?"

James leans down and kisses her, pressing his lips against hers without any proof of the words he muttered. He felt more scared than he ever had in his life but bravery won out, not wanting to miss out on the opportunity to kiss her without cameras. His fingers drag through her red hair, twisting in the strands by her neck. She kisses like she is terrified but behind her innocent kiss is a promise of something more.

James pulls away from her and leans his forehead against hers.

"Do you understand now?" James asks her, "There's no one out there for me but you."

She's crying, he can see the water drip from her eyes as she stares at him, "What'll the press say?"

"Who cares?" James replied, "I don't."

"I don't want to be the Prime Minister's pretty escort." She moans next, pressing her forehead into his chest, "I don't want _this_ to be how I go down in history."

"Lily," James uses his fingers to pull her chin up so he can look at her lovingly, "Once you get to where you want to be...dating the lousy Prime Minister won't even be noted in your biography."

Lily manages a laugh and presses her hand against his cheek, her smile infectious, "Why do you always have to be so charming?"

James is comforted by her laugh and he presses a quick kiss against her cheek, "Papers and press aside," he says, "I _do_ love you and I can't fix that."

"What do we do?" Lily looks beside herself.

James lets go of her so he can reach for the door handle, still jiggling as his publicist tries to break into their safe haven. Lily watches his movements with calculating eyes. James turns the door handle as he reaches for her hand.

"We face the cameras and be happy, together."

He waits for her to tell him she can't.

He waits for her to tell him no.

Instead, Lily brushes the makeup under her eyes and straightens her skirts. When she reaches to hold his hand, James sees the proud woman from Cokesworth he was in love with. The world may only see Lily as the secretary of the Prime Minister but James saw her as she really is: kind hearted; scared of change; and in love with a man who took three years and a scandal to tell her the truth.

Together, they step out of the closet into the hallway where immediately James' publicist swarms them. Behind the glass doors of the office, paparazzi cameras are flashing. Lily seems to freeze and her green eyes spot the paparazzi with precisian. Without saying a word, James tightly wraps his arm around Lily's waist and presses a kiss against her temple as he turns them so she's facing away from the cameras.

"Miss Evans and I are going to lunch." James tells his publicist, "Cancel my meetings for today and give them my sincerest apologies."

"But—" James' publicist squeaks, trying to break James from his hold, "The Press wants to know who she is."

Lily blinks exasperatedly at the publicist, "I'm just a normal girl." She grips James' hand tightly, "His girlfriend."

James' voice breaks with pride at her confession, "Tell the press my relationship with Miss Evans is personal but if they wish to discuss other matters like the education crisis in poverty level school's then they can feel free to set up interviews."

James looks down at Lily and she beams up at him, like she is proud. James leads her away from the flashing lights and the puzzled publicist. Coworkers stare as Lily and James walk down the hallways hand in hand. Lily fidgets as they walk down the street to get to James' parked car. Nothings perfect but as James leads Lily into a quiet press-less restaurant that serves giant Italian pasta bowls, he thinks that he's never been happier.

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